Add a Heart for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and JoAnn wants us to add a heart to our card.

Or play along with our anything goes birthday option.

Our party guests and my team mates have loads of inspiration for you so I hope you can play along.

Apologies for the dark photo, the slimline size is a bit too tall for my lightbox.

I attended the use your stash card making summit recently and the main takeaway was to have a look at what you have, simplify things by choosing just a few items at a time and just use them!

So, my designer paper pads, slimline dies and this rarely used sentiment die got an outing!

I had more fun inlaying the letters, and made another card using the negative diecut.

No room for a heart on this one though!

I'm linking up to these challenges:

My Time to Craft, hearts

Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge, playing along without the optional red theme

Edited to add: Also linking up to Word Power, thanks Darlene !

Supplies:

Craft Consortium ink drop candy designer papaer Pink & Main slimline dies; MFT big birthday wishes; Poppystamps heart confetti collage die; dimple textured card.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Love you hearts

 

Hi everyone, I've been trying to use some of my designer paper stash and thought these colours were perfect for hearts and romance!

I diecut the heart coverplate from the dp and 2 other pieces of white cardstock. Glued the white and dp hearts together so that each has 3 layers for dimension. It was easy to pop them back into the respective spaces.

The sentiment dies are cut from black glossy card stock for some shine and layered up for dimension too.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Allsorts, playing along with the romance option

Double D, hearts

Just Us Girls

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, love is in the air

Tic Tac Toe, I've gone with the top row; hearts, dp and love sentiment.

Try it on Tuesday, Romance

Supplies:

Heart coverplate die - not sure of the brand; Poppystamps swirled love and Simon Says Stamp you dies;

Craft Consortium ink drops candy; black gloss cardstock.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Snow Globe Shaker for guest spot at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown

 

Hi everyone, there is a new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and I am delighted to be a guest designer for this round, after winning a previous challenge.
Thankyou to the design team for inviting me.

The theme this time is a sketch, and there is loads of inspiration from the design team on the blog, so I hope you can play along.

As soon as I saw the sketch I thought of the retired Stampin Up die set I had recently bought featuring a snow globe. I thought the circle worked as the globe, the base was the horizontal panel and the three tiny snowflakes were in place of the holly embellishment.

I used distress inks to colour the interior of the globe and a versamark pen and Wow white twinkle embossing glitter for the snow. The stars were spattered on with Finetec silver paint, although you can't see them in the pic!

Here is a close up of the night sky. Apologies for the glare, it was hard to photograph without showing the lights on the globe!

I wanted a frame around the globe to match the silver base so used 2 Spellbinders circle dies to make a frame to fit.

I'm also linking up to these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, anything goes

Little Red Wagon, A is for anything goes

Addicted to Stamps & More

Merry Little Christmas Challenge, anything goes

Krafty Chicks Challenge

Supplies:

Dies & stamps: Stampin up snow globe scenes & shaker dome; Spellbinders circles; Waffle Flower elegant Christmas sentiment and die; MFT stylish snowflakes; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle.

Other: distress inks-faded jeans, chipped sapphire & black soot; versafine clair medieval blue ink & clear ep; versamark ink & Wow white twinkle embossing glitter; ; Sizzix christmas dots embossing folder; silver microbeads and Picket Fence Studio moonshine sequin mix.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

 

Katzelkraft dogs and fussy cutting fun!

 

Hi everyone, I'm trying to make Christmas cards regularly throughout the year.

So far so good, although it is still early days lol!

I was inspired by a few challenges: 

At 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, the theme is fussy cutting.

One of my favourite techniques.

I love the Katzelkraft cats and dogs and always seem to fussy cut them to use on my cards.

I like the extra dimension it gives, as well as keeping my hands busy waiting at appointments!

I stamped the images in versafine clair nocturne ink and clear embossed them. The dog is coloured with Prismacolor pencils and the gifts and Santa hat, chameleon pens. All are fussy cut.

The sentiment is a new to me die from Waffle Flower. Love this shade of sparkly blue card.

It's double layered for dimension.

I'm also linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Krafty Chicks

Merry Little Christmas Challenge, anything goes

The Male Room

Supplies:

Katzelkraft dogs; Taylored Expressions gift stamp from the Big Grumpy Christmas set; Stampers Anonymous mini bird crazy & things santa hat; Waffle Flower merry christmas print die; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle die; diamond stickles; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Kraft & Red for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and Glenda has chosen a colour theme for us.

Or play along with our anything goes birthday theme and build up your birthday stash.

We have a new team member joining us, welcome Jenny!

 Looking forward to seeing your lovely cards.

Our party guest Amanda and my team mates have some wonderful inspiration for you so I hope to see you in the gallery.

I pulled out my packs of kraft card and found a range of colours, from light kraft right through to a very dark one! I used the more traditional kraft for the card front and a lighter one for some of the stars.

I added a range of reds for the other stars.

The inlaying of the stars took a while but was fun. I diecut the star panel in each of the colours so will have enough stars for a few of these cards!

 The hardest thing was trying to get the card base curved to match the rounded edges of the starry card front...hmmm. (My corner punch only manages lightweight card or paper.)

I diecut the top layer of the sentiment from glossy black card for a bit of shine.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More

Unicorn Challenge, birthdays

Darnell's NBUS Challenge

Both the rounded star panel and the sentiment are from my stash of unused goodies!

Supplies:

Waffle Flower rounded star panel die; Creative Expressions birthday wishes mini shadowed sentiment die; scrap of black gloss card.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Something new for Seize the Birthday

 

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

It's time for us to start off the year with our Seize the Birthday challenges again and I am the host for this first one in 2025.

I thought it would be good to use some new goodies - I'm hoping to use more of my existing stash this year!!

Or play along with our anything goes challenge to add to your birthday card stash.

Our party guests Amanda, Valerie, Denise and my team mates have loads of inspiration for you, so I hope you can play along.

I made this card for my sister's birthday.

She's a fan of roses and red so hopefully she likes it!

The die is new to me from Memory Box. I added ink to the rose base with a finger dauber and the background is designer paper. Love it on the hammered card base.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

AAA Cards, without the optional twist

Double D, congrats on your 9th birthday!

Darnell's NBUS Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Monday, something new.

Supplies:

Dies: Memory Box scribble rose trio & background; Spellbinders standard circles; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle.

Other: Craft Consortium ink drops rose designer paper; picked raspberry distress ink; Happy Little Stampers doodled flowers sentiment; versafine clair nocturne ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Thanks with artsy leaves and spray stains.

 

Hi everyone, I hope your festive season was a happy one.

We spent the time resting up at home. Sometimes that's what's needed! I'm on holidays from work for a few more weeks, so looking forward to more of the same with some card making thrown in!

Always a bit late to the party with new goodies, this Sizzix Artsy Leaves die was a Christmas present to myself. I had some scraps left over from projects using distress spray stains and managed to diecut quite a few of the leaves.

I sprayed the leaves with some gold glimmer mist to tie the look together, it's a bit hard to see in the photo, but they have a lovely subtle shimmer.

I'm linking up to these challenges:

The Male Room

Simon Says Stamp Monday, something new

Moving Along With the Times, Thank you

Mix it Up Challenge Blog, playing along with the anything goes option

AAA Cards, playing along with the anything CAS goes option

Supplies:

Dies: Sizzix artsy leaves; Birch Press Design handwritten thanks; Crafts 4 U stitched rectangle.

Other: scraps of gold card and scraps of card sprayed with distress spray stains; hammered card base.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x

Last Christmas card for 2024

 

Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying the festive season. 

I was asked to make a more traditional Christmas card that represented "the reason for the season".

That sent me digging through my unused stash of second hand retired Stampin Up goodies and pinterest for inspiration.

I found this one by Nora Marin and changed it up a bit.

I masked my base using a rectangle stencil and ink blended with distress inks in antique linen, tumbled glass and chipped sapphire. Then added a starry sky with spatters of finetec silver paint.

I stamped and clear embossed the image and sentiment, and added a diecut star.

I'm linking up to a few challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

I chose the technique /stash theme from May 2024 and went with the diagonal star, favourite colour (Blue) and diecut (star)

Dragonfly Dreams, Christmas

Fab n Funky, anything but square

Krafty Chicks, all occasions

Darnell's NBUS Challenge

The Male Room, anything goes

Supplies:

Stamps: Stampin Up wise men from afar; Waffle Flower elegant christmas sentiments

Other: distress inks; Crafs 4 U stitched rectangle die; Memory Box star of wonder die; Finetec silver paint; Darkroom Door small rectangle stencil; versafine clair nocturne ink & clear ep.

Thanks for visiting,

Cathy x